Cites 2001 OSU King Air Accident That Claimed 10
On Wednesday, the NTSB says it
welcomed actions taken by collegiate associations in response to
its recommendation aimed at improving the safety of student
athletic team transportation.
The recommendation, issued to the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA), the American Council on Education (ACE), and
the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), was
the result of the NTSB's investigation into the crash of a Beech
Super King Air transporting members of the Oklahoma State
University (OSU) basketball team on January 27, 2001.
The accident airplane, one of three carrying OSU team members
and associated personnel, was en route to Stillwater OK, following
a game at the University of Colorado at Boulder earlier in the day.
There were no survivors among the two crewmembers and eight
passengers on board.
The NTSB recommendation asked the associations to review
athletic team travel policies and develop a model transportation
policy that could be implemented by member schools.
In response, NCAA and ACE asked the assistance of United
Educators (UE) Insurance to prepare a document with recommended
guidelines and sample policies on student travel. United Educators
is a leading provider of insurance to colleges and universities and
has worked for many years to develop risk avoidance policies for
them. The resulting 64-page guidance manual, titled Safety in
Student Transportation: A Resource Guide for Colleges and
Universities, was released in June.
In part, the guide suggests schools restrict air travel to
scheduled commercial carriers only instead of using chartered
flights, which the guide suggests poses a higher risk. In addition
to restricting travel to scheduled commercial service, the guide
specifically recommends colleges and universities:
- Prohibit students and recruits from flying on donated
flights
- Develop requirements for flying according to instrument flight
rules only
- Prohibit flying into forecasted hazardous weather
- Develop standards for pilot qualifications, the number of
pilots, and plane maintenance
- Establish clear authority for monitoring air safety
-
Limit the number of key passengers
on any one flight
ACE has distributed the report to 1,200 presidents of colleges and
universities. NCAA has distributed 6,000 copies to officials such
as presidents, athletics directors, senior woman athletics
administrators, business managers and risk managers at universities
throughout the country, and urged adoption of the policies
contained in the guide. UE distributed 2,000 copies to its 800
member schools. Both NCAA and UE have electronic copies of the
guide available for downloading from their Internet websites.
NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker praised the comprehensive nature
of the guide and ACE's and NCAA's extensive efforts to inform
college and university communities and prompt them to act. "This
valuable guide holds great promise," said Rosenker. "College
students and athletes will be safer now, if school officials follow
the lead of ACE and NCAA and implement the recommended policies. We
will have gone a long way toward making something good come out of
a tragic accident."
Rosenker said that the NTSB has closed the book on safety
recommendation (A-03-1), noting the actions taken by the agencies
involved went above and beyond what the Board envisioned when the
recommendation was issued.
Rosenker expressed the appreciation of all NTSB Members for the
admirable work by the NCAA, ACE, and United Educators.